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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Oricon interviews the ninth generation members of Morning Musume

Oricon recently conducted their own interview with the four new members of Morning Musume: Ikuta Erina, Sayashi Riho, Fukumura Mizuki, and Suzuki Kanon.

Check out the lively interview below!

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Interviewer: “We’ve just started, but please introduce the members to everybody so that we can get to know the four of you. First off is ‘Zukki’, the live-wire who always has a smile on her face – Suzuki Kanon-chan.”

Ikuta: Even when she’s not working, she yells out “wahhhh” (lol), and whether she’s on stage or backstage, she’s talking all the time. It’s nice that she doesn’t change (no matter where we are).

Sayashi: Even when I walk with Kanon-chan, I have to powerwalk. I do my best to take big steps, but I can never keep up with her. She slips into the crowd and then before you know it, she’s out of sight. Afterwards, when I tell Kanon-chan, “You’re so weird!”, she often says, “Huh!?”, like she doesn’t get it (lol).

Interviewer:“She cheerfully goes at her own pace, doesn’t she? (lol) Moving on, we have ‘Yasshii’, who made an impression as the ‘cool dancing queen’ – Sayashi Riho.”

Ikuta:When I was training together (for auditions) with Riho-chan, she had no energy left when we ate meals, so whenever I said, “Let’s go to bed everybody”, she acted like she was fine.

Sayashi: While judging was going on, I had to memorize choreography in one day. I thought, “If I go to bed with everyone, I can’t practice,” so I used to practice by myself.

Fukumura: They’re always teasing! Aren’t the two of them (Ikuta and Suzuki) annoying? (lol) When I think that they couldn’t get any more excited, even Yasshi gets to be the same way. It’s funny; they’re just elementary school students, so I think it’s cute.

Interviewer:“It is cute.”

Sayashi: No…… stuff like that…… it’s not really (that cute).

Fukumura:Do you think I’m cute?

Sayashi: No, I don’t! I’d say that Eri-chan is the one who’s cute!

Interviewer:“Haha. Next is Eripon or Ikuta Erina-chan, the one with the wonderful and perfect voice.”

Sayashi: She’s funny. In school, she does impressions of maids. It’s a totally different character.

Ikuta: When I thought about it, it got to where I was like, “Everybody at school does impressions!”, and it’s become my favorite thing to do…… so I when I was told that I was really good at doing maid impressions, I thought,“Hey! I’d better make the best of this!”

Sayashi:Your favorite is the “maid” one….. that’s… a turn off…..

Ikuta: I like that feeling! I like girl idols too.

Suzuki:Eri-chan, she means it in the gyaru-ish modern style. It’s like when you say stuff like “Are you for real!?” when you’re playing around on your cell phone (lol).

Fukumura:I think I’m starting to get jealous of how cheerful and positive you are.

Interviewer:“Thanks for being the last one. Finally, we have Fuku-chan, who’s made her impression as the quiet and reliable one – Fukumura Mizuki-chan. Go ahead.”

Suzuki: Since she gives off the presence of some amazing princess, at first I thought, “I’d better not talk to her!” Even though we’re the same age, in the beginning she was my senpai as an Egg, and I didn’t know how I could connect with her. But little by little, we were able to start talking to each other. A while ago she told me that she thought I was annoying, but she’s a cheerful person, so I’m sure that I can get her all excited with me.

Sayashi: Fuku-chan’s like Kanon-chan in that they’re not the type to lose their cool, so I absolutely think that stuff like that wouldn’t happen now.

Ikuta: When we stay at hotels for work, I always room with Fuku. I often tell her that I was so happy because of the things fans say to me at stuff like the handshake event. Talking together with Fuku is so much fun.

Interviewer:“Finally, let’s settle down with a nice talk (lol). Speaking of fun, your new song ‘Maji Desu ka Ska!’ is a full-throttle happy song. Please, let’s hear about it!”

Fukumura:I really like the lyrics in the hook where we sing, “donna toki demo positive de meccha kirakira hana sakasou”. It’s a song that you can sing straight through, and in the middle of that a girl’s love comes through. It’s a song with a good sense of rhythm, and since it’s a song that makes people energetic when they hear it… eheheh… I want everyone to hear it!

Interviewer:“Last week I had the new members introduce each other, but this week I’d like to hear what you think is great about the senior members.”

Ikuta: We have dance lessons with the senior members but Michishige (Sayumi)-san always sticks close to me and shows me the dance steps. She’s really nice and makes you think, “She really is a senior member.” I really admire her and I want to become like her too.

Suzuki: When we’re dancing and I can’t keep up with everyone, Niigaki (Risa)-san is by my side showing me slowly step by step. Ahhh, I really love Niigaki-san. She’s so nice!

Sayashi: Since I moved to Tokyo from Hiroshima and had to part with my friends, there have been times where I couldn’t sleep at night. Niigaki-san sent me text messages like she realized what I was going through. Like, “When times are really tough, come to me and let me know.” I was so happy that I cried. She really is a great person.

Fukumura: In my mind, Tanaka (Reina)-san had the image of being someone who wouldn’t worry about their juniors and just go at it alone. Like, the image of someone who’s difficult to talk to. But when I actually talked to her, I thought she was really bright and funny. She often gives me advice and things. When I’m practicing alone, she comes and practices along with me. So my image of Tanaka-san has changed completely, and every time we meet I like her more.

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Interviewer: “As early as it is, I can already feel the members’ bonds. Well then, please tell me the things you’d like to do as Morning Musume!”

Ikuta: It would make me really happy to go to all 47 prefectures and hear the fans say, “All right, they’re coming to my hometown this time!” I want to see those kinds of happy faces.

Interviewer: “Zukki, right after you joined, you said you’ll ‘become the center’?”

Suzuki: Ah… (mumbling) yes. Right now I’m struggling with dancing…. What I want to do from now on… oh, I just thought of it! I want all nine of us to do something to make the fans laugh. Like a comedy. I want to try wearing a bald wig too!

Interviewer: “That’s great, haha. Fuku-chan and Yasshi, what about you?”

Fukumura: In Hello! Project there’s something called “___ in Hawaii”, right? I want to go along with our fans to Hawaii and have an event. And they record DVDs in Hawaii, and do things like eating all together and playing the ukulele. I want to try that kind of thing.

Sayashi: I’ve always admired concerts, so I want to hurry up and stand on stage! Other than that, I also want to be able to get the crowd pumped without just following the script or relying on my seniors.

Interviewer:“Everyone sure has a lot of dreams. Please wrap things up with a recommendation of you four’s debut song,’Maji Desu ka Ska!’”

Ikuta: I’ll say it in Hakata dialect. It’s the ninth generation’s first CD, and the PV recording was a lot of fun and the song just gives you a great feeling. It’s a different kind of spirit than how Morning Musume has been up until now, and just by listening you’ll get pumped up, so we definitely want you to listen!